After more than two years of conflict over wages, working conditions and patient safety, 150 registered nurses at Kindred Hospital Westminster, a 109-bed acute care facility, ratified a collective bargaining agreement this week.

The union contract, negotiated by the California Nurses Association, provides for a 10 percent wage hike over three years, a ban on mandatory overtime, guaranteed meal and rest breaks, and training to reduce patient falls and nurse injuries.

The agreement was the latest victory for the California Nurses Association, one of the nation’s fastest growing unions, with 96,000 members statewide.

The union is currently organizing at Mission Hospital Laguna Beach, St. Joseph Hospital of Orange and St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton.

Kindred is owned by Louisville, Ky.-based Kindred Healthcare Inc., one of the nation’s largest operators of nursing homes, rehabilitation centers and assisted living facilities.

Nurses at the Westminster facility voted for the union in December 2013 but negotiations had dragged on. The nurses staged a one-day strike last September, citing chronically short staffing, inadequate meal and rest breaks, and a high turnover rate, with experienced nurses quitting due to poor working conditions.

Winning this first contract has strengthened our ability to provide the highest quality care,” said Kindred nurse Clarissa “Bing” Cruz, in a statement released by the union. “Our nurses know we can move forward, better equipped to advocate for our patients.”

Last month, the parent company agreed to pay $125 million to settle federal charges that it “knowingly caus[ed] skilled nursing facilities to submit false claims to Medicare for rehabilitation therapy services that were not reasonable, necessary and skilled, or that never occurred,” according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

According to the DOJ, Kindred’s RehabCare unit set unrealistic financial goals and scheduled therapy to achieve the highest reimbursement level, regardless of the clinical needs of its patients. The unit contracts with more than 1,000 nursing homes in 44 states to provide rehabilitation therapy.

The nurses union has been in the forefront of efforts to achieve better patient care. It drew national attention in 2005 in a battle with then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger over his decision to suspend new state rules to limit the number of patients a nurse must care for.

At a Long Beach conference, the nurses provoked Schwarzenegger by unfurling a banner that read “HANDS OFF OUR RATIOS” – a brash reference to allegations of female groping by Schwarzenegger during his gubernatorial campaign.

Schwarzenegger responded, “They are the special interests ... I am always kicking their butts.”

The union then ran full-page newspaper ads accusing him of kowtowing to the hospital lobby. The headline: “Kicking butt or kissing up?”

The nurse-to-patient ratios, the first in the nation, were eventually restored.

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